The present invention relates generally to creation and/or publishing of personalized memory compilations for members of a group and, more particularly, to a method for gathering, enriching, preserving, and sharing memories for members of a group using the combination of 1) collaboration through nominal group recall and 2) recording of personal preferences to produce a digital or printed asset that contains a blend of selected profiles, images, stories, personalized notes, and other relevant content from more than one group member and constitutes rendering of an important experience of the group.
Life's most meaningful events are often shared experiences with a group of family or friends. Participants have a strong desire to preserve and share the memories of these milestone occasions, as evidenced by the more than 50 billion digital photos taken last year; an increase of about 10 billion over just a few years ago.
The success of online social networks demonstrates that people want to preserve and share their stories in their own special way. They often care what others think, demonstrate a strong desire for personalization and employ technology with ease.
Many consumers demand personalized interaction. With the advent of high speed, high quality, digital print engines and software that can integrate fixed and variable content, variable data communication (VDC)—also called cross media communication—represents a major shift in technology and strategy to provide highly relevant, one-to-one communication with customers. Cross media communication represents advanced techniques and supporting technology that helps producers and marketers keep pace with customers' expectations regarding media. Many consumers demand personalized interaction. VDC enhances the value of communication by making the level and depth of conversation personal and powerful. Although measures of return on investment vary according to the selected media, response rates for VDC are often much higher than static media.
This major shift in technology has served to stimulate a high-growth market for custom photo books. On-demand publishers allow authors or photographers to print factory-bound, hard and soft cover books from a digital source for a low price. Consumers upload their photos and descriptions, and then print as many or as few books as they want. From a time and cost-saving perspective, these services have become useful for people who used to create their own photo albums and scrap books. Now they can save money by not printing individual photographs or purchasing albums and scrapbooking materials. Still, with photo book providers' current offerings, creating a unique photo book for more than one member of a group requires an extensive commitment of time, energy, and money.
The present invention addresses the challenge of collecting images and stories from a group of people, then assembling them as a personalized memory compilation in a way that preserves memories by: gathering and blending stories; images and other associated content from members of a group; creating a series of custom memory compilations where each one may be distinct and personalized to the group member; and replicating the process for a number of groups simultaneously.